The counties surrounding Spokane have again moved a level ahead in the state’s coronavirus reopening protocol.
Whitman was the latest to move to level three on Saturday. Spokane is eligible on Friday to apply for level three. But County Health Officer Bob Lutz says Spokane isn’t ready yet. He says the county has a mixed record based on the metrics the state considers when it decides whether to let counties advance to new levels.
“We look good from a standpoint of hospital capacity, number of individuals, hospitalized for Covid-19. But the two that sort of stand out are our overall case counts and the metric around testing," Lutz said.
As in too many new confirmed cases during the last two to three weeks and not enough testing done.
“I would love to say that we’ll be able to move there in a couple of weeks. I really don’t know yet. It just depends on our data," he said.
Spokane County reported 22 new Covid cases on Saturday and 10 more on Sunday.